IT Placement Student Review

My placement has by far been my best experience so far in comparison to any other job I have worked in the past. Before I started my placement, I was very hesitant, with doubts of even doing a placement. However, since I arrived at Nissan, I was made to feel so welcome and an integral part of the team. I've had so many opportunities from developing my own knowledge, learning new skills on onsite training courses to having the opportunity to work on various teams to gain an even deeper understand of core systems and functions used daily.

This was my biggest worry, being made to feel like a 'temporary resource' or not being an integral part of the team and being classed as 'The Placement Student'. Since day one, I was always made to feel comfortable, ensuring I was introduced to all members of the department, as well as having discussions to see what work best suited me. For me, this made my placement a lot more enjoyable and really influenced my work ethic.

Ask anyone, a placement year is daunting, going into a real organisation, with only 2 years university experience - nothing compares to the nerves. My placement mentor was great. Always ensured I had tasks to do which challenged my abilities, with weekly catch-up sessions to make sure I wasn't too out of my depth. Not only my mentor but the rest of my team, including my manager were there to offer support. One bit of advice for future placements whichever company would be to utilise the resources around you, like mentors and supervisors and ask as many questions as possible - I have so much more confidence going into final year and my future career now.

Like any other job, some days are busier than others. With the constantly evolving IT/IS industry, there is always some improvements to existing technologies or the development of new application to replace legacy systems. Some days were quieter than others but this gave me the opportunity to do some learning through portals supplied by Nissan. Everyday was different.

Obviously it took a couple of months to really get to know the systems used and the work ethic of Nissan before being assigned any high responsibility tasks. But as my confidence grew, so did my responsibility, especially after around 5 months, this sounds late in a one year placement but this is when I felt most comfortable tackling issues and projects on my own.

The challenges set by my team allowed me develop all skills I have learnt in the first two years of university, not only develop them but use them in a way university wouldn't have offered by doing a degree alone. I will be able to go back to university and beyond with the confidence of successfully being able to apply all my knowledge gained here to other project work. Nissan also helped me improve soft skills, like presentation skills and communication skills - both of which I consider very important to have.

Sometimes the office was quiet, sometimes the office was full, as any other company would agree, this changes depending on the requirements of the business projects, but no matter whether it was quiet or loud, the atmosphere was always generally positive, making placement year and my first office experience memorable and enjoyable.

I thought it was set up very well, we had a 1 week general inductions, getting to know Nissan as a company and how they work. Followed by a more specific department 1 week induction - allowing us to get to know our fellow placements and what type of work we could be doing. We were always informed of what we had to do and when.

With the IT/IS placements we had a further 1 weeks worth of software training. This allowed us to top up our current knowledge so we had more confidence approaching any technical areas as well learning new skills, which will no doubt come in useful in the future. Following this, we had various specific training sessions set up for us, as well as some company-wide optional training to further our knowledge in Nissan working ethics.

If Nissan opened applications to graduate positions or even full time positions in the far future after I have more experience, I would more than happily apply. I worry my future career - wherever that may be - will not compare to the high standard Nissan has already set even after one year.

At first, as expected, we automatically stayed with friends from university. But after our inductions and team building activities, as well as gradually getting to know other placements, I feel I have made some feel friendships, some of which I will keep for a lifetime. After getting to know each other, nights out became a weekly occurrence!

In general socialising is pretty cheap, just depends on what activities have been planned along with the number of people taking part.

Sunderland offers a good night out but any social occasions for work often ended up being at Newcastle. The town offers more restaurants, bars, pubs and clubs. There is a restaurant/pub with walking distance for Nissan, often used for celebration meals or events, but anything more than this, Newcastle is the place to go!

I had no outside of work activities associated with work, only socialising. My team enjoyed team building activities outside of work, keeping the team moral high and ensuring friendships were made outside of the workplace.